Half-mast or half-staff: Protocol in times of tragedy

This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

Half-mast or half-staff: Protocol in times of tragedy

(CNN) — Following Monday’s deadly shooting at the Washington Navy Yard, President Barack Obama ordered all flags on U.S. military installations and federal government facilities to be lowered to half-staff out of respect.

But since the attack occurred at a U.S. naval facility, those flags, as well as flags flown at Marine Corp facilities and on naval vessels, are actually lowered to half-mast (consistent with masts on ships).

The action is the same in both cases — first raising the flag to the top of the flag pole, then lowering it half way — but the terminology is different on land vs. on sea (and at Navy/Marine facilities).

Also, it should be noted that Vice President Joe Biden lives on a naval facility — the Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. — and the presidential retreat at Camp David is formally a naval facility, so those flags would also be lowered to half-mast.

According to the president’s proclamation, flags will “be lowered to half-staff immediately and remain at half-staff until sunset on Friday, September 20.